Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her question. As she said, the programme for Government contains a commitment to increase diversity within An Garda Síochána, prioritising the identification and removal of barriers to recruiting and retaining people from diverse and minority backgrounds. This work is being taken forward as part of An Garda Síochána's equality, diversity and inclusion, EDI, strategy. The Garda Commissioner and the Secretary General of my Department are leading on this issue across the public service. My Department's Justice Plan 2021 commits to supporting the EDI strategy to ensure An Garda Síochána can attract, retain and develop a diverse and inclusive workforce, including preparation of a diversity recruitment roadmap. This roadmap will be informed by the ongoing work of An Garda Síochána to identify key challenges related to the recruitment and retention of individuals from minority backgrounds.

The EDI strategy sets out 11 strategic goals to be met by the end of this year to increase equality, diversity and inclusion within the Garda organisation, including the establishment of governance structures to ensure the strategy's goals are met. The EDI leadership council, chaired by the newly appointed deputy commissioner with responsibility for strategy, governance and performance and comprising colleagues from across the public sector, including my Department, and academia, has been established to oversee this work, including addressing the issue of greater diversity in recruitment within the Garda.

The Deputy will be pleased that the EDI strategy also provides for the establishment of an internship programme for both school-leavers and graduates. The aim of this programme is to attract graduates and school-leavers from communities that have been traditionally under-represented within An Garda Síochána.

To support the objective of attracting, developing and retaining individuals of talent and representation from minority and diverse communities, the Garda national diversity and inclusion unit, GNDIU, in conjunction with the Garda human resources, equality, diversity and inclusion section, is actively engaging with representatives of minority groups.

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